My Blog

The lion-dance performances outside my house
has just finished. Had to endure 2 whole hours of drumming.
At least this has provided some Lunar New Year atmosphere,
short of the fire-crackers that are not allowed, and that we don't have anymore for some time now.

This is what the "adventurous one" looks like today,
compared to one month ago. How she has grown
and become even more intelligent and good looking!


In a pensive mood.


What she looked like when her picture was posted on
January 11th at only 6 weeks old (check the archives).


Thanks Jolynn for the pictures. And as the new owner, she calls
her puppy "Stress" now.

Life is so fragile. Just a few minutes before touching the ground when the shuttle had to burst into flame. And so many smart ones perished.

What is the cause of the blast?
What were their mission?
What have they accomplished?
What did we learn from here?
Does anyone have the answers?

Found out today that 2 of the astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle disaster were from the town of my alma mater in Texas. The 2 men on the ship were from Lubbock, Texas. They were the shuttle commander Rick Husband who was a 1980 Texas Tech University graduate in Mechanical Engineering. and the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia, William McCool who was a high school student at Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas.
Also, the space shuttle started breaking up and burning into flames while it was flying over their home-town in Texas.

Except for the bad news from the shuttle disaster, happy lunar new year wishes for the year of the goat.
Goodbye to the year of the horse, and hope that the goat will bring better things compared to the past year.
May there be an end to all wars and peace to all mankind.

7 killed in space-shuttle Columbia disaster

Another disaster, this time in space. Certainly a big setback to the manned space-flight program.

The space-shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry to earth and all seven crew were killed in the explosion and fireball, only 16 minutes from a safe touch-down and after a 16 day space mission.

The astronauts who were on board included an Israeli and a woman Indian scientist; all killed instantly in the maximum re-entry heat of 1,648 deg C, while traveling at 18 times the speed of sound.
... 7 killed in space shuttle, ST 2/2/03



This accident happened coincidentally, almost on the anniversary of the previous Challenger space-shuttle disaster which happened 17 years ago soon after its launch. Is this another case of bad luck when there are women travelling on board a (space) ship? This is an old maritime traditional belief, and perhaps may hold true even in modern times when applied to space travel. Maybe the sailors of old knew something that we don't know today.

Now there are only 3 shuttles left, out of the 5 that were ever built. Those which were destroyed in accidents either at launch or at re-entry to earth all had women astronauts on board. Heroes and pioneers all, who embodied the spirit of adventure and discovery. They left this earth and did not return alive.